Super Bowl XL had its flaws - but it was the real thing

In the end, it came to this: The Super Bowl was the Super Bowl. And
nothing else is.

If you're a Super Bowl purist - which seems to include just about
everybody on talk radio and/or in the sports bars - this year's
installment, which saw the Pittsburgh Steelers quash the Seattle
Seahawks, 21-10, was not one for the ages. Even if you're not a Super
Bowl purist, chances are you picked up on a few discordant notes in
Super Bowl XL.

Take the officiating. Granted, no such gridiron collision is ever
going to be controversy-free. There is just too much at stake for it to
be otherwise - not when such issues as Mom, apple pie, the flag and NFL
bragging rights hang in the balance. But this installment produced more
than its share of debatable calls. Was Steelers quarterback Ben
Roethlisberger really over the line with that touchdown run? Did the
Seahawks really commit all the felonies with which they were charged?
These issues made lots of observers go "hmm."

There were also what might have been considered sub-par performances
by some principals. Neither Roethlisberger nor his Seattle opposite
number, Matt Hasselbeck, turned in a glittering performance - though
some of the post-game criticism heaped on them may have reflected
sky-high expectations generated by the brilliant work both did in the
previous playoff games. Some other big dogs seemed to under-perform -
but there was still a generous helping of magic, at least for the
Steelers: Willie Parker's Super Bowl record 75-yard run; that great
gimmick pass from Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward . . . and, best of
all, The Bus, Jerome Bettis, pulling into the station with a Super Bowl
win.

Hokey? Overhyped? You bet. But the action was real - and even the
ads, while not perhaps up to the standards of some years, still rocked.
It was, as always, an all-American extravaganza in every sense of the
term. Now we just have to find something to occupy our time till the
troops are called to camp and the whole zany, riveting circus starts
all over again.